An Odd Gesture
by Sherlocked Gallifreyan
Summary: Matt brought home a plant their freshman year of college and Foggy named the plant Andrew. Somehow Matt managed to keep a lot more plants alive in his apartment in the years leading up to their graduation. They all have names.


A/N: The idea came for this while I was watching "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" with some friends. Particularly the part where Newt is showing Jacob around the suitcase. Unbeta'd and written up while watching the movie so there may be mistakes. Canon divergent; set shortly before they graduate. This too kinda got away from me.

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The first time Foggy stepped foot in Matt's apartment he'd been shocked. During their college years, Matt seemed to have perfected the art of talking about himself without every really giving anything away. Foggy learned that Matt lived in a studio apartment with roof access that he paid ridiculously little for (a perk of being blind, he'd called it jokingly; the massive billboard outside the windows made it highly unattractive). Other than the Greek girl he'd never been in a serious relationship, something Foggy had the hardest time wrapping his mind around. Then again, Matt spent more time studying than doing anything else; maybe he'd have better luck if he went out more often.

Matt's apartment was open and welcoming. Plants occupied almost every flat surface. One of the frosted windows had been replaced with clear glass; light grey blackout curtains were tied back. This early in the morning, the plants on the floor in front of the window weren't in the sun but Foggy figured they got the afternoon sun. These ones had brightly colored flowers. He looked over at Matt in the kitchenette. "You never told me!" Foggy exclaimed. He gestured at all the plants.

"You never asked," Matt said, laughing. "And there's no smooth way to bring up an apartment full of plants. It was never relevant!"

"That is true," Foggy conceded. "Hey it's Andrew!" Andrew was the name Foggy had given Matt's much loved spider plant their freshman year. Matt had shown up later than normal one afternoon and interrupted Foggy's worried scolding by holding up a plant that someone had apparently just thrown away. Matt's attitude bordered on righteous indignation as he went on a tangent about how easy it was to care for spider plants. Andrew sat in the center of Matt's coffee table. "I just kinda thought Andrew was a charity case I guess. Never thought you'd have this many plants."

Matt chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "I...yeah. It kinda got out of hand." His tone was guarded now. Foggy hoped Matt would someday trust him enough to open up about what happened after the orphanage.

"Do all your plants have names?" Foggy asked. He wanted to get Matt's mind out of whatever dark place it had wandered to. Matt shook himself.

"Sorry, what?" he asked, looking over at Foggy. Foggy understood how Matt's senses worked, but that still creeped him out a little. (At least he liked to think he had a vague understanding of what Matt had explained.)

"I asked if they all have names," Foggy repeated.

"They do," Matt said, a mischievous smile tugging at his lips. Foggy didn't like that smile. Whenever Matt smiled like that, things got weird for Foggy. "I named a lot of them after your family." There was a pause and then: "Okay I named them all after your family. There are more people in your family than I have plants. For now at least."

"That's equal parts really adorable, really sad, and a little bit creepy," Foggy said. "Which one did you name after me?" He scanned the sea of plants for one he figured looked like himself.

"C'mere," Matt said. Foggy followed Matt into his bedroom. There were more plants in the bedroom. Foggy recognized the plant next to Matt's bed under a lamp as lavender. His mom had tried growing it indoors with no success. Foggy was glad he had a large family and touched that Matt liked them enough to name his plants for them. "My...my uh favorite flower is lavender." Matt's voice was a bit shaky and uncertain. "The lamp is - the lamp is designed to let people grow stuff inside that they normally wouldn't." Matt stared at the ground and twisted the hem of his shirt nervously. "Named the lavender after you."

"That," Foggy said, "is the strangest, sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me." He pulled Matt into a hug. "You're weird," he murmured fondly.

"Weird enough to somehow think you're normal," Matt teased, relieved at Foggy's acceptance of that odd confession. He patted Foggy's back. "You hungry? I heard a new diner replaced Mo's."

"You gotta stop reading my mind, Matt," Foggy said. "It's creepy!"

"Your stomach's been growling for the last five minutes," Matt laughed. "If I get there first you're buying." This was said over his shoulder as he snagged his cane and hurried from the apartment.

"So not fair!" Foggy called after him, breaking into a jog to catch Matt in the hallway.


End file.
